It seems I haven't been blogging in 3 weeks. I am finishing up my semester at BU 214 Marketing. We had a very busy couple of weeks. Our 2 culmination projects were due and were organizing for the final in a few days. Our new shoes simulation rocked. We (the new shoes company) started out pretty poorly compared to other class groups, but ended in second place overall and maintained the highest income ratio. My new shoes team then had to present a business journal on our overall success. The class then had an assignment that had no precursor, we were given just one class period to receive a project idea, formulate the presentation, and present. It was a very interesting pressure assignment.
Then our video project was due. If you haven't seen it, fix yourself and go watch it here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZM6LbwpFCms
Our video project we decided to make a serious topic have some humor so it wasn't so cut and dry. That proved to be difficult because we didn't want to make light of a serious subject either. We ended up going with a new cast team that our approach was funny, but we still kept the information accurate. In the end I enjoyed the video that we made, we also learned some new techniques on video editing.
Our final thank God is not a cumulative one. I don't like cumulative finals. This final, which I haven't taken yet, seems to be discussion based as well as multiple choice. We have to read information, then we quiz over it and finally we discuss it.
I learned from a professor a few semesters ago to reflect on exactly what I did learn in a class, so I'm going to continue that for you today.
In marketing the cornerstone idea is the 4 P's: Price, Product, Promotion, Place. We did go more in depth on different strategies to promote the 4 P's, but everything still stemmed back to them. I learned how to operate excel at a much higher capacity. The excel that we were required to complete for our new shoes simulation was intense. We had roughly 7 pages (its not a lot for some people) inside the excel document. The first page was raw data, we would enter all of our new shoes information there. That information was 70 rows and we had approx. 9 columns across. Then we had the other pages to create were purely formula. Ratios, forecasts, totals.... to name a few. We created graphs from formula's that were grabbed throughout the first page. Some of you may have done this, others not. This was very new to me, so I am happy I was able to learn it. Finally I solidified that having a good team is paramount. In college AND in the work force you sometimes are tasked to do group projects with other people. I was very fortunate to have other team members who cared and participated in every step.
BU 214 is a good insight to marketing. Those who want to pursue any type of job in marketing probably should take this course to have an overall grasp on things.
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Saturday, April 5, 2014
7's tournament #11
ADvertising!
I am down in Brockton Mass. (when the mass people pronounce it it sounds like prockton). I showed up this evening to do medical oversight of the 7's tournament that the men's St. Mikes rugby team is in tomorrow. This is all volunteer based, and its located in Stonehill mass.
The drive down I a ton of advertising, not only in magazines and on billboards, but also the signs showing what is coming up on the next exit. I thought this was pretty clever, because the advertising here for highway sign probably costs a pretty penny. Some companies that may be smaller might be fortunate to be near a Mcdonalds because they will have the signs and the huge arches, and if you were small time you just need to be near them for extra customers.
I'm sitting in my hotel room typing this blog and looking around for ad's. I am surprised to find so few. I think that may be in place because holiday inn already knows I'm staying here, and they only have a few things showing holiday inn. The shampoo/conditioner, pens, note pad. Other than that were staying in a hotel that is just a comfy room. I wonder why they have so few branding around, or why other companies have not tried to break into that. Either way I am happy I don't have to sit here and see so many ad's while I'm trying to get ready for bed.
We will be on the campus all day at stonehill, too bad this blog is due before that, it would be nice to see the branding of another campus besides St. Mikes.
Go St. MIKES!!!!
I am down in Brockton Mass. (when the mass people pronounce it it sounds like prockton). I showed up this evening to do medical oversight of the 7's tournament that the men's St. Mikes rugby team is in tomorrow. This is all volunteer based, and its located in Stonehill mass.
The drive down I a ton of advertising, not only in magazines and on billboards, but also the signs showing what is coming up on the next exit. I thought this was pretty clever, because the advertising here for highway sign probably costs a pretty penny. Some companies that may be smaller might be fortunate to be near a Mcdonalds because they will have the signs and the huge arches, and if you were small time you just need to be near them for extra customers.
I'm sitting in my hotel room typing this blog and looking around for ad's. I am surprised to find so few. I think that may be in place because holiday inn already knows I'm staying here, and they only have a few things showing holiday inn. The shampoo/conditioner, pens, note pad. Other than that were staying in a hotel that is just a comfy room. I wonder why they have so few branding around, or why other companies have not tried to break into that. Either way I am happy I don't have to sit here and see so many ad's while I'm trying to get ready for bed.
We will be on the campus all day at stonehill, too bad this blog is due before that, it would be nice to see the branding of another campus besides St. Mikes.
Go St. MIKES!!!!
Sunday, March 30, 2014
Branding or Advertising? #10
Marketing is in so many places. A lot of times I don't even notice an Ad or labeling, because I am so accustomed to seeing it. Last night I decided to take a look and see the advertising.
I went out and had an event downtown. My friends and I did what we call "pub golf". Where we go and have beer at a few places and we had teams. It was pretty fun just to hang out with my friends after a few weeks not no seeing them.
First thing I noticed was branding. It was everywhere: it was on our clothes, it was on the beer glasses, the mirrors, the neon lights, it was in window signs/banners. Branding was just a huge portion of last night from what I noticed. I also think that makes it easier. If you just use branding some people are loyal to that, also many people were drinking so any complex advertising may not work. Is there a huge difference in advertising and branding? I'm pretty sure they overlap a ton. First you need a brand, and you have to advertise for it, then once your brand is established you can use that logo in so many places and people will know what it means.
The very little advertising I did notice was coupled with the branding. I did see a lot of companies that use larger companies to get their product across. An example would be a coca-cola sign with your companies name on it. That way you still are able to get your own name out there, with the help of larger companies.
This is an example. I got this image from the web, because I didn't have my camera on me last night. These types of signs allows for the company to get their name out, and also a way for coca-cola to advertise/brand.
All in all, I found mostly branding as a part of a night on the town. There were street ad's, something like a poster or small billboard, but I know I didn't stop to read them. I think branding has it's great place to be able to reach and get into people.
I went out and had an event downtown. My friends and I did what we call "pub golf". Where we go and have beer at a few places and we had teams. It was pretty fun just to hang out with my friends after a few weeks not no seeing them.
First thing I noticed was branding. It was everywhere: it was on our clothes, it was on the beer glasses, the mirrors, the neon lights, it was in window signs/banners. Branding was just a huge portion of last night from what I noticed. I also think that makes it easier. If you just use branding some people are loyal to that, also many people were drinking so any complex advertising may not work. Is there a huge difference in advertising and branding? I'm pretty sure they overlap a ton. First you need a brand, and you have to advertise for it, then once your brand is established you can use that logo in so many places and people will know what it means.
The very little advertising I did notice was coupled with the branding. I did see a lot of companies that use larger companies to get their product across. An example would be a coca-cola sign with your companies name on it. That way you still are able to get your own name out there, with the help of larger companies.
All in all, I found mostly branding as a part of a night on the town. There were street ad's, something like a poster or small billboard, but I know I didn't stop to read them. I think branding has it's great place to be able to reach and get into people.
Monday, March 24, 2014
Spring break in Scotland and Ireland. #9
Besides the fact that my trip with my wife was completely awesome, I honestly was looking for marketing stuff the whole time. It's like a completely different country over there (that's a funny).
The first picture I found was in Frankfurt, Germany in the airport on the way over to Scotland. It was the first ad that surprised me and made me take a second look, which I think is the point.
This was in the men's restroom, and this is the hand dryer next to the sinks. This is a LCD screen that rotates ad's. Not like a tv, it's not a video, just images come up more like a picture frame that we have in the states.
This made me turn and look a few times, I thought this is exactly what marketers want. This was a niche that had been created. You can't help but see this spot, even if you don't wash your hands its on the wall as you're walking out.
The second one was almost 1 hour later right after the first. I was on the plane flipping through the duty free magazine and bam. Cigarette ad's, but not like the ones you see in the states. This one has a bold identifier on it.
The first picture I found was in Frankfurt, Germany in the airport on the way over to Scotland. It was the first ad that surprised me and made me take a second look, which I think is the point.
This made me turn and look a few times, I thought this is exactly what marketers want. This was a niche that had been created. You can't help but see this spot, even if you don't wash your hands its on the wall as you're walking out.
The second one was almost 1 hour later right after the first. I was on the plane flipping through the duty free magazine and bam. Cigarette ad's, but not like the ones you see in the states. This one has a bold identifier on it.
Directly on the center of even the ad there was "Smoking kills" in bold letters on every single cigarette brand. This I thought, well this is obvious because of regulations, but this was still bold and out in the front. I hope that whomever got the laws passed are pleased because their message was loud and clear and someone else paid for it.
I saw small ad's everywhere. On a car registration where if you were outside the vehicle you can see what year/ whatever other info. On the inside (this was a taxi) it was an ad for some local restaurant. I wish I had gotten a picture of it, but I was kind of running around and enjoying my vacation.
Here are a few photos I took with my ipod while running around.
That is a bowl at Newgrange, a place that was built before the pyramids.
Dunnotar Castle.
Sunday, March 9, 2014
New Shoe #8
For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, read last weeks blog. I introduced all of this as a topic.
I'm pretty excited about this week. So far we have been just in the middle of the pack, because we have been doing some spending that other 'companies' (my classmates) have not been doing. We currently are in 4th place overall (out of 13 teams). That's OK, but not for us. Fortunately we have been sticking to our original game plan to put maximum amount of money into product development. This means that our shoe product is already at level 3! We are about to be able to enter into the foreign market.
Tim, and Kt have been great as partners. I'm glad that when I have to rely on 20% of my grade it'll be with people who want to pass with flying colors. The first 2 decisions were relatively quick, they were within 4 days of each other. We have to wait for this week's decisions to close out on Monday evening. I am fairly certain that we will get closer to the top team on income. We pulled out all the stops and went more aggressively to reach level 3 on our shoe development. We WILL have access to the foreign market (as I said) and this will expand who we can reach. We will be able to sell more shoes. More shoes is more profit, and we should be the first team to make it to the market.
In a different set of news we also put in contract bids. That is where we just try to sell our shoes that won't have our brand on them, we sell them for just a little bit above break even costs. Fortunately our break even is low, so hopefully the other companies didn't out bid us. We won't know until Monday.
I'm pretty excited about this week. So far we have been just in the middle of the pack, because we have been doing some spending that other 'companies' (my classmates) have not been doing. We currently are in 4th place overall (out of 13 teams). That's OK, but not for us. Fortunately we have been sticking to our original game plan to put maximum amount of money into product development. This means that our shoe product is already at level 3! We are about to be able to enter into the foreign market.
Tim, and Kt have been great as partners. I'm glad that when I have to rely on 20% of my grade it'll be with people who want to pass with flying colors. The first 2 decisions were relatively quick, they were within 4 days of each other. We have to wait for this week's decisions to close out on Monday evening. I am fairly certain that we will get closer to the top team on income. We pulled out all the stops and went more aggressively to reach level 3 on our shoe development. We WILL have access to the foreign market (as I said) and this will expand who we can reach. We will be able to sell more shoes. More shoes is more profit, and we should be the first team to make it to the market.
In a different set of news we also put in contract bids. That is where we just try to sell our shoes that won't have our brand on them, we sell them for just a little bit above break even costs. Fortunately our break even is low, so hopefully the other companies didn't out bid us. We won't know until Monday.
Sunday, March 2, 2014
Post # 7 New Shoe Simulation
Our class has this simulation that is worth 20% of our grade called "New Shoe Simulation". It's pretty different from other simulations that I have done for St. Mikes in the past. This you are pretty much a marketing person for an athletic shoe company. The last guy was fired because he/she couldn't produce so they hired me. I have control over much more than marketing though. The simulation guide goes into detail about a home, domestic, and foreign market. I can develop my product (put money in and get a better shoe). I deigned the COMPANY logo, not just a shoe, so I pretty much created a brand.
I get to do this simulation as a group project. Very fortunately I got to choose my own team and am working with Kt Copp and Tim Nagy. We got to do 2 weeks of practice simulation. It was pretty awful the first week (in theory) because we went further in the hole. Then the 2nd week we pretty much spent no money on any product development, no money on advertising, no money on customer promotions, no money on dealer promotions, and no money on market research (those are some of the fields we have control over). This simulation then says we did awesome. The only issue I personally had with that is the first week we followed the guide to the letter and went so far into the hole! The "student guide" has money values put on each of the above mentioned categories i.e. don't spend more than 2 million on product development. We put in exactly 2 million but it only hurt us further.
We have to put our thinking caps on because the real simulation starts this week. Our goals are to develop our product quickly and get to level 2, so we can buy into the foreign market. We only start out with home and domestic market capability. We also want to just crush in our own home market, if we can boost and have a solid home market, then that will carry us through all the other markets. We aren't very focused on the domestic market. We got to read one of last semesters simulators and they didn't even get to go to the foreign market. Reading that persons numbers, we see that they could have done very well for themselves. We have 8 weeks of doing decisions and building in our markets. I think collectively we will do just fine. This is worth 20% of our grade, but the rubrics on grading shows that we have to use the tools we learn in class to make this happen. I am confident that us 3 will be able to pass this with flying colors.
I get to do this simulation as a group project. Very fortunately I got to choose my own team and am working with Kt Copp and Tim Nagy. We got to do 2 weeks of practice simulation. It was pretty awful the first week (in theory) because we went further in the hole. Then the 2nd week we pretty much spent no money on any product development, no money on advertising, no money on customer promotions, no money on dealer promotions, and no money on market research (those are some of the fields we have control over). This simulation then says we did awesome. The only issue I personally had with that is the first week we followed the guide to the letter and went so far into the hole! The "student guide" has money values put on each of the above mentioned categories i.e. don't spend more than 2 million on product development. We put in exactly 2 million but it only hurt us further.
We have to put our thinking caps on because the real simulation starts this week. Our goals are to develop our product quickly and get to level 2, so we can buy into the foreign market. We only start out with home and domestic market capability. We also want to just crush in our own home market, if we can boost and have a solid home market, then that will carry us through all the other markets. We aren't very focused on the domestic market. We got to read one of last semesters simulators and they didn't even get to go to the foreign market. Reading that persons numbers, we see that they could have done very well for themselves. We have 8 weeks of doing decisions and building in our markets. I think collectively we will do just fine. This is worth 20% of our grade, but the rubrics on grading shows that we have to use the tools we learn in class to make this happen. I am confident that us 3 will be able to pass this with flying colors.
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Brand Saftey
This week we had a guest speaker who works for St. Mikes and is in charge of social media and marketing for the college. He had some interesting ideas about the value and numerical postings for social media. He has proof that if he posts every day for St. Mikes there would be less following, but if he posts once every 2 weeks there is more traffic to the post. He also had a wonderful story about how to get into contact with a company.
Rewind a few days.
I had to replace my phone last week. I dropped it and wasn't trying to hide that fact. The screen wouldn't turn on in any way. I went over to Verizon and they shooed me out the door saying it was my phone insurance that I had to contact. I get on the website to go through the steps to replace my phone, and it is immediately stopped by the dates of when I purchased my phone, and I get told to contact Verizon. I get back in my car and drive over to Verizon, they assured me it wasn't them and it was my insurance who I have to get to replace my phone. In stead of getting back in my car to head home, I stand in Verizon and make the phone call. I am on hold for 20 min or so and get in touch with a rep who then gets the information that is needed in about 5 min, and sends me a confirmation email. I have to drive back home just to respond. I have to fill out an affidavit and send in an ID. They had a nice little post saying I can take a picture and upload it to an email. The best piece of technology I had to do that was my non working phone. I then have to drive over to the school library to print, sign, and then scan this document just to email it to them. The only beautiful thing about all of this, was I got my phone the very next day.
Back to the guest speaker..
He expresses that brands are always happy when you post about them in a positive manner on social media sites. They have numbers to back up their marketing and are creating brand loyalty. He also told us that if we have a problem with a brand not to call them, but get on social media and just bash away. While this lecture was going on, I did just that. I got on facebook and typed the above paragraph on their facebook page. The 4 hours I spent trying to figure all the phone insurance out the previous night. The 20 - 30 min they had me on the phone directly was just an infuriating process. I post on their facebook and within 10 min I get a private message from a rep there asking to contact me directly. I eventually get my phone and get a direct line to a real person. They helped me with my issues, I told them about their crappy process. In the end I think what happened was good.
I got helped, I got to speak to someone directly, and I got my phone back quickly.
I think if you need help with a company, and you're getting no where. Get on social media and start spewing the wrongful things that are happening. I can bet that someone will get a hold of you soon to try to fix the problem.
Rewind a few days.
I had to replace my phone last week. I dropped it and wasn't trying to hide that fact. The screen wouldn't turn on in any way. I went over to Verizon and they shooed me out the door saying it was my phone insurance that I had to contact. I get on the website to go through the steps to replace my phone, and it is immediately stopped by the dates of when I purchased my phone, and I get told to contact Verizon. I get back in my car and drive over to Verizon, they assured me it wasn't them and it was my insurance who I have to get to replace my phone. In stead of getting back in my car to head home, I stand in Verizon and make the phone call. I am on hold for 20 min or so and get in touch with a rep who then gets the information that is needed in about 5 min, and sends me a confirmation email. I have to drive back home just to respond. I have to fill out an affidavit and send in an ID. They had a nice little post saying I can take a picture and upload it to an email. The best piece of technology I had to do that was my non working phone. I then have to drive over to the school library to print, sign, and then scan this document just to email it to them. The only beautiful thing about all of this, was I got my phone the very next day.
Back to the guest speaker..
He expresses that brands are always happy when you post about them in a positive manner on social media sites. They have numbers to back up their marketing and are creating brand loyalty. He also told us that if we have a problem with a brand not to call them, but get on social media and just bash away. While this lecture was going on, I did just that. I got on facebook and typed the above paragraph on their facebook page. The 4 hours I spent trying to figure all the phone insurance out the previous night. The 20 - 30 min they had me on the phone directly was just an infuriating process. I post on their facebook and within 10 min I get a private message from a rep there asking to contact me directly. I eventually get my phone and get a direct line to a real person. They helped me with my issues, I told them about their crappy process. In the end I think what happened was good.
I got helped, I got to speak to someone directly, and I got my phone back quickly.
I think if you need help with a company, and you're getting no where. Get on social media and start spewing the wrongful things that are happening. I can bet that someone will get a hold of you soon to try to fix the problem.
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